Man, woman shot, wounded at apartment

Police seek information on Owings Mills assault

Baltimore County police were investigating yesterday the shooting of two people Saturday night at an Owings Mills apartment complex.

About 11 p.m., someone fired a handgun through a set of sliding glass doors into a unit at Watermill Apartments in the first block of Enchanted Hills Road, police said.

Victor E. Pope, 45, who was sitting in the living room about 15 feet from the glass doors, was hit in the leg and chest. Daria R. Ellis, 29, was shot in the leg, police said. Ellis was in a room adjacent to the living room.

The victims were taken to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. Pope was in critical but stable condition yesterday and Ellis was in stable condition, police said.

"The sliding glass had vertical blinds that were partially covering the view inside the apartment," said Sgt. Donald Forbes. "But the shooter was able to see just enough to hit the people inside."

Pope's wife, Darla R. Pope, 53, who was in the apartment at the time of the shooting, suffered chest pains and was taken to Sinai for observation and released, police said.

The Popes rent the apartment, said Bill Toohey, a police spokesman.

Toohey said Victor Pope works for New York City Transit Authority weekdays and returns to Owings Mills on weekends.

Police were unsure yesterday of the relationship between Ellis and the Popes.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call county police at 410-887-1570.